Historical information

Pickwick Clubs were established around the world in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, inspired by the first novel of Charles Dickens. A Kew branch was formed in 1897 and lasted until c.1912. Its membership was drawn from a number of notable Kew families. The club published two booklets, the first in 1904 and the second in 1912. In addition to holding meetings, club members performed in productions of Shakespearian plays in the Recreation Hall in Wellington Street Kew. Members of the club adopted pseudonyms based on characters in Dickens' novels.

Significance

Literary publication of of artistic (literary) significance recording the social and cultural activities of a group of residents of Kew and its environs that operated from 1897 to c.1912. Another copy is held by the State Library of New South Wales

Physical description

Contents of The Pickwick Portfolio, Vol.1, No.2 - Frontispiece / Mark Tapley (Alice Bale); Editorial; To Pickwick / John Jarndyce (Mr G. Bell); A sonnet / BarkisThe Pickwick Portfolio being the magazine of The Pickwick Club, Kew, Vol.1, No.2 January 1, 1912 (Mr McCowan); Nikko / Barnaby Rudge (Mr H. Gaze); The lady or the tiger? / Nathaniel Winkle (Mr J.A. Richardson); Why? / Alfred Jingle (Mr H.M. King); The autobiography of Richard Pitt Cobden Slugger / Sam Weller (Mr P Vines); A new natural history; A kerosene tin / Wardle (Mr Veitch); Peter, or butt me no butts / Henrietta Boffin (Mrs J.A. Richardson); Laughter: can it be cured? / Cap'n Cuttle (Mr E. Vines)

Publication type

fiction